Italy is undoubtedly famous worldwide for its excellent cuisine. But atmosphere is the conditio sine qua non (indispensable condition) to really enjoy food. And Italy, with its small towns, traditions and hundreds of different food fairs throughout the year, is one of the best countries where quality, tradition and positivism merge.
A small country, dubbed The Boot–a name that recalls the shape of the Mediterranean peninsula–, Italy is defined by regional diversity. You can find totally different dialects from town to town as well as different ways of concocting the same dish. Every region and every city has its own special dish that citizens are ready to protect with their life. Naples with its pizza, Bologna with its lasagna, Milano with its risotto Milanese, Palermo with its cannoli, Taranto with its orecchiette, and Roma with its gnocchi alla Romana, are only a few examples. Particularly during the summer, many small towns organize taste-testing fairs that feature traditional ways of hand made cooking.
Acqualagna, a small town in the region of The Marche, has its white high quality truffle, and of course, its historical Truffle fair, which is currently running its 45th event for three weekends, starting from 31 October until 14 November.
Exhibitors to sell truffles, and visitors taste them both in the fair and in the restaurants around the city, which offer truffle-based menus.
Mochi Raffaella, who works on the farm holidays Ca’ le Suore (Nuns’ House) near Acqualagna, explains that “the truffle is a mushroom that grows under ground in tree roots, due to its need for a humid environment. Gathering truffles is difficult; experts hunt for them with trained dogs or, in other areas, with pigs. They are usually found in impervious-to-the-elements areas, such as crags. The dog smells them and they are taken out with an instrument called “ruscella.” The more the truffle is smaller the more taste and aroma change.”
This year's lower prices attracted more truffle lovers to the small town. The ‘tuber magnatum pico’, the Latin name for white high quality truffle, reached the “very low price of 1000 Euro per Kg, in comparison with the higher 3000 Euro per Kg reached the year before,” Mochi said.
The high quality white truffle has a very strong smell, white color, and if cooked, it loses its scent. Therefore, as the Italian cook says to Al-Masry Al-Youm, it has to be added to tepid butter, or cut into flakes directly on the pasta, either tagliatelle (noodle) or spaghetti, or on the oeil-de-boeuf egg once ready.
It can be preserved for a maximum of five days, because without humidity it dries up becoming flavorless and tasteless. So the only way to enjoy truffle is to consume it in a short time.
Longer lasting, the high quality black truffle is definitely cheaper. “When the high quality white truffle costs 3000 Euro, the black one can range from 200 to 250 Euro,” Mochi says.
In contrast with the high quality white truffle, which is only cut into flakes, the high quality black truffle can be grated and cooked in oil; it goes with toasted bread, roast beef sauce, and scrambled eggs.
By law, truffles can be picked only in specific periods of the year, that is from 1 October to 31 December for the white, and from 1 December until 15 March for the black type.
When the digger gathers the truffle, he can’t clean it or brush it. The buyer does that, because the ‘mushroom’ has to touch as little water as possible. It’s washed preferably with a small brush, covered with a kitchen paper, and put in a glass pot in the fridge for a maximum of five days from the gathering.
One of the typical menus (for about 50 Euro) offered by farm holidays includes a tasting of: Toasted bread with white truffle as a starter, tagliatelle (noodle) with high quality white truffle, roast beef with high quality black truffle, and fillet with high quality white truffle.
